Write@Home
Winter 2015

Travel (Outside of Canada)

 Northern Light, Aurora borealis at Kirkjufell in Iceland. Kirkjufell mountains in winter

When I was a kid, I was not like the other children. Most of them wanted to be firefighters, policemen, cowboys, F1 drivers...., but not me. I was fascinated by volcanoes and I wanted to be volcanologist. Where I found this idea? It was one time, I watched a documentary on TV and I saw (the person who inspired me for a decade) Haroun Tazieff and his expedition to see the most dangerous and powerful volcano in the world. Time flew by, I abandoned the idea to be a volcanologist due to the length of the course and the unpopular studies in France.

I kept in my mind my dream to see a volcano in activity and not an extinct one (like in France).

After working in Luxembourg we started to have enough money to travel and to fulfill our dream to visit different countries.

One day, my wife asked me where our next holiday will be. Without hesitation I said Iceland. She was very surprised and asked me why Iceland. I explained this story to her and she didn't know about my childhood dream. We started the travel to Iceland in September, and we arrived in this magnificent and mystic land. I was fascinated by the beauty of the darkness of the weather, always grey with these grey and white volcanoes, no vegetation just lichen. It's difficult to explain the vibe of this island, we felt at the same time the danger and the quietness of these giant mountains, and the legend of the elves, trolls and other mystical stories of the ancient Vikings. We've returned in February, two years later, to see the northern lights and we were not disappointed at all. We did not have lots of snow and the temperatures are even higher than in Canada.

I want to return to learn more about the legends, the Vikings, and all about this amazing country. It was one of my favorite vacations ever.